Complete at least three exercises from the book "Art Escapes"

Since I had my nifty “toolkits” it was a matter of scooping them up and taking them along when Max and I went to Greenlake Sunday! Max’s favorite spot is the northern end of one swimming area. He played happily there for almost half an hour so I had plenty of time to draw. It was sunny and warm. For some reason the trees, the sky, the clouds, the colors; everything seemed vivid and vibrant even though it was watery winter sunshine. Since the trees are still bare of leaves I could easily see how different their shapes and structures are.

in my art journal each of the last two days in a row. Completed the notebooks/papers “toolkit”. Have basic supplies for sketching and collage mixed together in a bag. Can’t decide if I like her “toolkit” approach for sketching, collage and painting supplies or not? The fabric “roll up” construction I like; it reminds me of Dr. Stephen Maturin from Master and Commander unrolling his doctor’s implements for surgery. Anything that reminds me of Master and Commander=happiness. I’ve always liked boxes for pencils, pens, brushes, erasers, charcoal etc. Anyhow, the point of the “toolkits” is to remove impediments to producing art by having your supplies in an easy to transport, easy to access bundle of some kind. So for now not going to get hung up on the format. If I’m making art every day that’s good progress and I’ll let the “toolkits” evolve naturally.

online from a used bookseller. Went back a forth a bajillion times: wait until after Christmas? Go ahead and give myself a treat? Since it was $14 and change including shipping I went ahead and ordered it.

to my Amazon wish list. Looks very interesting! Thank you Dreamer, Wren and hopena for posting this goal!

I ordered the book Art Escapes from my local library. Today I picked it up and was pleasantly surprised by the simple, yet profound suggestions and samples of art. I have a few things to pick up in order to have portable art kits, but I am excited about exploring my creative side, daily. This will be a nice addtion to my schedule, something that brings me joy and unleashes and expands my creativity. I’m also thinking it would be something nice to do with my daughter~

Kalibaba suggested that I do a one-minute sketch of Sadie the Dog. Thanks, Kalibaba, for that suggestion. I would not have been bold enough to try such a thing on my own. Anyway, I did it, and I scanned it at work this morning. I think it turned out ok! Here it is!

I’ve moved from doing one minute sketches in gel pen to using mechanical drawing pencil. The drawing pencil is also very pleasing. And I haven’t missed a day of sketching. It’s a nice way to start the day.

I am going to make a quick sketch of my dinner before I eat it.

I am really looking forward to doing this. And I will have to draw quickly so my dinner won’t get cold!

from Hopena, who has a lot of very admirable goals.

I purchased my copy of the book online for under $7, including shipping, and so far it has been a great addition to my life. I like it so much, I decided I want to have this place to write about my experiences with the exercises.

So far, I’ve ordered the recommended art supplies and am eagerly awaiting their arrival. The supplies that the author suggested were not expensive, and I learned about some things I’d never heard of before, such as using salt, a toothbrush, and a spray bottle to create special effects with water colors.

I’ve also been working with the first exercise, called One Minute Drawings, using what’s called the small frame format. To do this, I drew a series of quick, open squares on a page in my sketchbook. These are the frames. Each day, I spend one to three minutes doing quick drawings of one object per frame. I’ve been using a black gel pen and have been drawing things like a dragonfly-shaped hairclip, a tube of Retin-A, a book of matches, a bathtub toy froggy. Somehow, the structure of this exercise takes all the pressure away and allows the drawing to just be fun. I can’t explain it, but so it is. And I have been enjoying this one exercise so much that I’ve not yet felt like moving to the next one.